Mets Would Like To Trade Mike Pelfrey

11:34am: Adam Rubin of ESPN New York got the sense from a team official that Pelfrey's availability is more of a routine thing than serious consideration of moving him (Twitter link).

11:05am: Mike Pelfrey has struggled through Spring Training so far, and Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports that the Mets would like to trade the right-hander. A rival executive told Heyman that the "best thing for him might be to get out of New York."

Pelfrey, 28, has allowed 20 hits and 16 runs in 9 2/3 innings with more walks (six) than strikeouts (four) this spring, though the team doesn't appear to be considering releasing him. The Boras client will earn $5.675MM this season, though the Mets would only have to pay him a portion of his salary if they release him before Opening Day. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2008, Pelfrey has pitched to a 4.27 ERA with 5.0 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 while throwing at least 180 innings in each season. He is under team control as an arbitration-eligible player in 2013 before qualifying for free agency.

Comments

I know that isn’t the sole reason why they’d be looking to get rid of him, but at best he is a league average pitcher and I guess they’d rather not allocate 5.5M to a guy who can be their 4th best pitcher.

I don’t know what they could get in a trade for him, but some team may need a back end guy and if they have pitchers coming back from injury, he’s not a bad choice given his durability.

Releasing him would be a mistake, because you don’t get squat back in return. If all you can get is a hard throwing Elvin Ramirez type relief prospect, it’s better than nothing. I do wonder who they would let take his place in the rotation. Who’s unsigned?

Colorado was interested in him this offseason, they want an innings eater on
The back end. Doesn’t matter what the Mets get back just get him out of town and sign someone else to pitch horribly in his place that the fans at least don’t hate already.

Santana last year was about as valuable as Pelfrey. The last start of last year summed it up great. It took him 64 pitches to get through 3 innings and gave up 9 hits and 5 runs. I would trade him for bag of baseballs at this point.